The inventions described and claimed herein relate to the delivery, transfer of content, and subsequent return of uniquely customized physical digital media (for example, CD, DVD, flash card, memory stick, optical, hard disk) referred to as “portable cartridge” or “hard drive” or “cartridge” via physical delivery (e.g. via mail, courier, customer pickup location, air, bus, transit, hand delivery, retail or outlet location, package drop, or other means to deliver a physical good) of a digital media that comprises one or more types of content. Digital content (files, movies, games, index information, movie trailers, pricing information, advertisements, pictures, audio samples, program executable code, algorithms) can be delivered to a user with a player (set-top box, computer, mobile, TV, stereo), herein referred to as “player”, and made available for program updates, purchases or rent via a uniquely customized physical medium (for example, CD, DVD, flash card, memory stick, optical, hard disk) by way of physical delivery (for example, via mail, courier, customer pickup location, air, bus, transit, hand delivery, retail or outlet location, package drop, or other means to deliver a physical object). Care is given to the cost of delivery, the security of content itself, the user experience in selecting, choosing, paying for, viewing or utilizing the content, and the resulting usage information created as a result of the content being utilized, rented, purchased, loaded or deleted.
Existing methods of digital media content delivery are organized into two primary categories: 1) Physical delivery (mail, courier, customer pickup location, air, bus, transit, hand delivery, retail or outlet location, package drop, or other means to deliver a physical good), and 2) Digital transmission types of delivery (telephone, wireless, wire-line, Internet, satellite, TV broadcast, radio, and other communication methods).
The film industry typically makes a distinction between these two types of delivery methods and will many times differentiate content availability based on the delivery method chosen. Each delivery method has its own security requirements for different types of content and different content sensitivities.
This patent document relates in part to the means to provide a secure and efficient/economical physical delivery system for digital content (e.g. CD, DVD, flash card, memory stick, optical, hard disk).
Physical delivery of digital media has been provided for many years in many forms both secured and un-secured. In the area of secured physical distribution, many existing methods are used to secure content for mass audience consumption. These include encryption schemes that are tied to secrets that are locked inside a particular manufacturer's player as is the case for DVD's, to content keys that are used to unlock software for installation on personal computers.
These methods of protecting content are well known to anyone skilled in the art of content protection schemes.
Updated content protection schemes such as those being developed for high definition (HD) formats (e.g. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray) include higher bit keys and methods to update the encryption schemes on player devices for content that is cracked. These new methods add additional levels of obfuscation than that used by the current methods for DVD encryption. The new abilities to update encryption schemes and keys for cracked content will not provide security for the current cracked content, but merely provide an updated scheme or key for all new content that is physically delivered. So while these new schemes for HD content have increased security, they do not enable all existing content shipped or bought by customers to be updated; only the new content is updated. Additionally these methods for encryption can not effectively tether content to a specific unique player because of the very nature of mass market production. Instead the content is encrypted in such a way with keys that are secret, but that are distributed by a manufacturer. So you have many manufacturers who have their own sets of keys that can be used to unlock the content. The content by definition has many hashed keys that exist in many different manufactured player devices, all of which can be used to unlock the same content.
In the non-physical delivery methods, content keys can be uniquely encrypted for a single device at distribution time because the content is broadcast or downloaded electronically and can be digitally signed as needed to protect the content. In these types of methods, which are also well known to anyone skilled in the art of encryption, content can be successfully tethered to a single device so that there is only one key/player that can play back the content.